Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz, Second Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector-General, who is also Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz Charitable Foundation, today laid the foundation stone of the Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz City for Humanitarian Services (SACHS). At the ceremony, the foundation’s Secretary-General Prince Faisal Bin Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz praised the assistance given to the needy by the government of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz, the Crown Prince, and the Second Deputy Prime Minister, saying: “The foundation ensures health care, social services, and aid for handicapped people as well as the elderly, both male and female, providing for the needs of all, including advanced clinical facilities.” He stated that the foundation has also promoted cooperation with the Arab Gulf University in Bahrain, and with the King Saud University, adding that it will participate in research on handicapped people in coordination with the Prince Salman Research Center. The new city will be the largest and most comprehensive medical rehabilitation and humanitarian service facility in the world, with a capacity of 250 beds, plus a convalescence center of 150 beds, and specialized clinics serving nearly 300,000 outpatients annually, and a surgical unit capable of performing more than 14,000 operations a year.

In a press statement after the ceremony, Prince Sultan stated that the new facility “will be an effective support to other charity organizations in this country, which extend social and medical care to the handicapped and the elderly. The Sultan Abdul Aziz Charity Foundation was set up to help those people who cannot afford the expenses of medical treatment abroad, or who need specialized services.” He added that although he financed the foundation personally, the door is open for any donor.